The Philippine Republic's Region IV, Southern Tagalog, comprised eleven
provinces with eight cities. Most of these provinces are in the southern part of
the island of Luzon, but the province of Palawan, an archipelago in itself,
stretches southwest of Luzon almost as far as Borneo, forming one of the four
sides of the Sulu Sea. It has subsequently been subdivided into CALABARZON
(Region IVA, comprising Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon and Rizal) and
MIMAROPA
(Region IVB, comprising Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque,
Romblon and Palawan).

Flag images here drawn after Symbols of the State,
published by the Philippines Bureau of Local Government.

The Philippine Republic's Province of Batangas, located on the island of Luzon,
comprises two cities, Batangas (the capital, pop. 245,000) and Lipa (pop.
219,000), and thirty-two towns on 3,165 sq.km. with a total population of
1,885,000.

In the late nineteenth century the Philippines became one of the world's leading
sources of coffee, and Batangas was heavily given over to coffee cultivation,
but the coffee blight of the eighteen-eighties eventually overleapt quarantine
measures and devastated the Philippine crops. The Philippines would not again
export coffee for almost a century. The stately homes of the coffee planters
still stand. Batangas was home to several early nationalist leaders, and
contains museum-monuments to General Malvar, the last military leader in the
Philippine-American War (Philippine Insurrection) to surrender to the United
States, to Apolinario Mabini, to President José P. Laurel, and to Marcela
Agoncillo, who made the first official Philippine flag during the insurrection
against the Spanish.

Batangas offers a number of vacation destinations, including Taal Volcano, the
world's smallest, on an island in Lake Bombon. Dive spots are extremely
numerous, and there is a "submarine garden" of coral, visible at low tide, at
the town of Lobo. The first balisong, or Philippine butterfly knife, was made in
Taal, Batangas, in 1905, and the province is still a center for their
manufacture. It produces rice, maize, coconuts, sugar, pepper, fruits,
vegetables, poultry, cattle, horses, other livestock, and fish, and has a
considerable variety of light and heavy industries, from garments to electronics
to steel. It is also a shipping center..
John Ayer, 12 March 2001

The Philippine Republic's Province of Cavite abuts metropolitan Manila. It is
named for the hook (Tagalog kawit) of land that juts into Manila Bay, and
which is an important objective of any force wanting to rule Luzon and the
Philippines. The province's population is 1,907,000 by the census of 2000, its
area 1,474 sq.km. There are three chartered cities, Cavite (pop. 98,000),
Tagaytay (32,000) and Trece Martires (35,000), and twenty towns. The legislature
meets in the town of Imus (pop. 177,000 by the 1995 census) and that is not the
most populous town; two others have more than a quarter of a million apiece.
Trece Martires is the seat of provincial administration. Tagaytay is "the second
summer capital" of the Philippine Republic, famous for its perch overlooking
Taal Lake, also known as Lake Bombon, the crater of what is said to be the
world's largest volcano.

What is now the Province of Cavite in the Philippine Republic has a long history
of resistance to Spanish rule. It was known for generations as "Madre de los
Ladrones," the mother of bandits--the way an imperial power usually describes
resistance forces. (I do not know Spanish, and am open to correction on this
interpretation.) In 1859 a battle involving cannon was fought at the Julian
Bridge in Imus between Philippine and Spanish forces. In 1872 two hundred
Filipinos working at the naval arsenal at Cavite mutinied. This mutiny was put
down, and three Catholic priests, José Burgos, Mariano Gomez, and Jacinto
Zamora, who were implicated in the uprising were executed. In 1896 the last uprising against Spain began,
and Cavite was swiftly secured for the rebellion. General Emilio Aguinaldo,
president of that first Philippine Republic, was a native and resident of Cavite.
One of the towns in the province now bears his name. The province also includes
the island of Corregidor famous from World War II. Also in Imus
is a monument commemorating the Battle of Alapan; this includes a
ninety-foot-tall flagpole from which the Philippine flag flies, and a statue of
a woman carrying a Philippine flag. The province is very liberally supplied
with historical monuments, resorts, noteworthy churches, and places of religious
retreat. Its economy seems to be more industrial than agricultural, though it
produces rice, coffee, fruits, vegetables, and seafood.
John Ayer, 13 March 2001

Alternate flag?

Cavite City appears to use an alternate flag (see its
website),
using a red-green-red horizontal triband, with an emblem near the hoist
comprising some elements from the official seal.

"Designed and conceptualized by former City Mayor Timoteo O. Encarnacion, Jr.,
the city flag symbolizes the many facets of the city and its people. The two red
stripes symbolize the courage and bravery of the Cavitenos, the courage to shed
blood or even to die to protect and defend their country. Likewise they
symbolize the courage and bravery to uphold the noble values, tradition and
culture or our country and people; courage to change what needs to be changed
for the better, for the common good. The middle green stripe symbolizes and
signifies the progress and advancement achieved so far by the city and the
vision and dreams to achieve further progress and development, with the help and
guidance of Almighty God. The half sun signifies the rising sun, which embodies
the hopes, dreams and visions of the Cavitenos for material, physical and
spiritual progress. It can also signify the setting sun, to show that the
western shores of the city provides one of the most beautiful sunsets in the
country, if not the whole world. The five yellow stars represent the five
districts comprising Cavite City: San Roque including Fort San Felipe; San
Antonio, including Sangley Point and the Corregidor Island and other islands
nearby; Caridad, Sta. Cruz and Dalahican. The half-circle below the sun composed
of three sets of waves, in blue and white, stand for the fact that Cavite is a
peninsula surrounded by sea, while the three sets of navy blue and light blue
and white strips stand for the three bays that surround the city, namely:
Canacao Bay, Bacoor Bay and Manila Bay."
Source : Socio-Economic Profile 2000 of Cavite City prepared by the City
Planning and Development Officelocated by Dov Gutterman, 27 December 2002

The Philippine Republic's Province of Laguna is named for Laguna de Bay, the
second largest fresh-water lake in South-East Asia, which discharges through the
Pasig River into Manila Bay. Preserving the health of this lake is a matter of
great importance to authorities at all levels, as the population is rapidly
increasing and industrial development proceeds apace. The province is blessed
with the amazing flow of 1,200,000,000 liters of fresh water per day, which
combined with the mild climate has permitted the province to sustain a
considerable agricultural output, including the commercial cultivation of
orchids, other flowers, rice, fruits, and sugar, while retaining its natural
beauty. Its industries are numerous and varied. There are numerous other lakes
(including the Seven Lakes of San Pablo), streams, and hot springs. Calamba is
home to the museum-monument to Dr. José Rizal y Mercado, the Philippine national
hero. At Lumban is a Japanese memorial to the dead soldiers of World War II; the
altar is rumored to contain the remains of General Yamashita. Los Baños is home
to the premier campus of the National University of the Philippines. There are
numerous museums, noteworthy buildings, demonstration farms, and many resorts
serving domestic and international traffic.

The Province of Laguna has a population of 1,747,000 in one city (San Pablo,
pop. 205,000) and twenty-nine towns. The capital is Santa Cruz. The total area
is 1816 sq.km.John Ayer, 14 March 2003

Much the largest province in the Philippine Republic's Region IV, Southern
Tagalog, is Quezon, at 11,946 sq.km. By the 2000 census it has a population of
1,656,000. Its capital is the city of Lucena, pop. 196,000, and there are forty
towns besides. The former capital was Tayabas, built on its present site a few
miles inland after Moro pirates had destroyed the previous capital on the coast.
Here, too, watchtowers built to give warning of raiders from the sea still
survive. Lucena City is now an international port. The land supports a large
agricultural production. Coconut is the dominant crop, with bananas, maize,
vegetables, poultry, and livestock contributing their parts. There is
considerable industry. Natural attractions include Quezon National Park, full of
caves, springs, creeks, waterfalls, gorges, ravines, lush vegetation,
butterflies, birds, monkeys, and other wildlife, plus several submarine gardens,
bird sanctuaries, and lots of beach. Mount Banahaw, a dormant volcano on the
border with Laguna, has been the scene of several dramatic episodes in the
country's history, and is the focus of a number of religious rituals, some
Christian, some not. The province was named Tayabas until 1946, when it was
renamed Quezon in honor of Manuel Quezon, first President of the Commonwealth of
the Philippines.
John Ayer, 17 March 2001

The Philippine Province of Rizal is a monument to the memory of Dr. José P.
Rizal y Mercado, who founded the Liga Filipina (in Hong Kong) in 1891, was
active in the leadership of the Young Filipino Party, and wrote vigorously
condemning the dominance of the Catholic religious orders over the country's
economy and other oppressions of the Filipinos. A rebellion--not the first, as
we have seen--against the Spanish authority broke out in Cavite in August 1896.
It was suppressed within two months, and the Spanish, apparently thinking to
scotch the snake at the head, subjected Rizal to a pro-forma trial and executed
him in December. Rebellion immediately broke out again, and spread rapidly.
Spanish authority never recovered. In 1901 the Province of Rizal was created. In
1975 almost half the province was taken to form the National Capital Region, and
what was taken included the city of Pasig, the provincial capital. There are
indications that the town of Antipolo, with about 350,000 inhabitants much the
most populous town in the residual province, has been chartered as a city and
made the new capital. Current and reliable information would certainly be
welcome. Dr. Rizal, by the way, was of partial Chinese descent (Chinese had been
trading with, and settling in, this part of the Philippines centuries before the
Spanish arrived), and was a native of Laguna Province.

Rizal Province extends eastward from the Manila area east of the Pasig River to
Laguna de Bay, now, with the decline of Spanish and the ascendancy of English,
often called Laguna Lake. Rizal's population is some 1,689,000 by the 2000
census. Its area is 1,860 sq.km. Its chief agricultural products are rice,
cacao, coffee, citrus, and cashews. Some 57,000 hectares of Laguna de Bay,
including its only large island, belong to Rizal. Fish-farming yields massive
amounts of fish that mostly go to feed Manila, and ducks and livestock are grown
in considerable quantity for the same market. The forests yield rattan and
firewood. Shoes are made in large quantities for export, and industry is
spreading steadily from Manila. Products include pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and
textiles, among others. There seems to be considerable tourist trade, with
plenty of scenery, caves, water, waterfalls, and fresh air.
John Ayer, 17 March 2001